FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A judge has told Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette to butt out of an ongoing dispute over home delivery of water in Flint.

Schuette and his special counsel, Noah Hall, are seeking to join a lawsuit against Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration by filing a brief that supports Flint residents. Schuette wants federal Judge David Lawson to keep an injunction in place, which calls for home-delivered water if lead filters haven’t been properly installed.

The judge on Monday rejected the filing. Lawson says there’s nothing new in Schuette’s arguments. He also says Schuette has injected a “troubling ethical issue.”

Lawson notes that lawyers in Schuette’s office are on the other side of the case, arguing that the injunction should be scratched.

Schuette says there’s a wall between his views on the case and the work of department lawyers who must defend state agencies.